WOODBRIDGE — A former Carteret handyman who was twice convicted of killing a mother of four in 1994 should spend the rest of his life in jail, a jury decided today.

Jurors in New Brunswick deliberated about an hour before finding that Steve Fortin, 45, should be sentenced to life without parole, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said.

Fortin, who was convicted of killing Melissa Padilla on Aug. 3, 1994, will be sentenced Friday.

Authorities said Fortin attacked Padilla, raping and strangling her before dragging her into a concrete drain pipe alongside Routes 1&9 in the Avenel section of Woodbridge.

At the time of the attack, Padilla was walking back from a store with groceries she was taking to a motel, where she was staying with her children.

Fortin, who did not come to court for the penalty phase, was first convicted in December 2000 of murdering Padilla and was sentenced to death after a trial in February 2001.

That conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered after the state Supreme Court ruled that a trial judge did not adequately question prospective jurors.

Fortin was convicted in the second trial in 2007, and was awaiting the penalty phase to determine whether he received the death penalty when New Jersey repealed the death penalty law.

Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled he could be sentenced to life without parole, even though the state had no such punishment when he was convicted.

Police had no suspect in the Padilla slaying until Fortin was arrested eight months later in Maine. He was stopped for drunken driving by a state trooper whom he sexually assaulted, biting her on the chin and breast, according to court documents. Authorities in New Jersey linked the bite marks on the trooper to the murder in Avenel.